Originally appearing in my monthly column at Database Trends & Applications magazine. When it comes to cloud-based database management, there are really only two players: Amazon, the value leader, and Microsoft, the innovation leader. Amazon has carved out a niche as the value leader in cloud-based database management, ...

Some of my favorite articles originally appearing at SQLPerformance.com.Why Not Seek PredicatePaul White ( b | t ) proves, once again, why he is the best in the business when it comes to debugging a SQL Server query. In this post, Paul gives you a step-by-step breakdown of a query that goes astray due ...

Some of my favorite articles originally appearing at SQLPerformance.com. Dirty Secrets of the CASE ExpressionAaron Bertrand ( b | t ) of SQL Sentry takes a look at some unexpected behavior with the CASE expression and some of its derivatives. Did you know that Aaron is both an uber-genius and ...

Some of my favorite articles originally appearing at SQLPerformance.com. Read Committed Snapshot IsolationPaul White ( b | t ) has been doing a phenomenal series on SQL Server behavior under each of the major isolation levels. This particular post details the inner workings of READ COMMITTED SNAPSHOT, but there ...

Some of my favorite articles originally appearing at SQLPerformance.com. Avoiding Knee-Jerk Performance TuningPaul Randal of SQLskills.com starts a new series on knee-jerk troubleshooting, discussing many areas where SQL Server folks jump to conclusions when trying to fix a performance issue.Knee-Jerk Wait Statistics: ...

I will be speaking at SQL Sat 380 in NYC on the topic of Basic Performance Monitoring with Perfmon. I have delivered this session many times and is usually well attended. The session is geared for the person who has heard of Perfmon but not used it. This is very much a 100 level offering.
The last time that I was in NYC for a ...

Even with the right indexes in place, spatial queries in SQL Server are often too slow – but they needn’t be.
Two of the most commonly found patterns of query in the spatial world are when you’re looking for the nearest thing to where you are (which I’ve written about before), and when you’re looking for the points that are within a particular ...

Working with hierarchies in SQL Server never fails to be absolutely fascinating.
On the face of things they’re super-easy to model and seem to fit perfectly well: parent_key, child_key, self-referencing FK, and you’re done. But then you go to query the thing and there is a complete breakdown.
Prior to SQL Server 2005 the product included zero ...

Do you do a bit of query tuning? Then check out this treasure trove of performance tuning advice!Optimization Phases and Missed Opportunities andWorking Around Missed OptimizationsPaul White (b | t) writes two fascinating blog posts that go hand-in-hand concerning query optimization. He goes into some deep details about ...